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Maximising the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our renewable potential is a key focus for our Green Industrial Strategy, published in September 2024.

We are investing up to £500 million over five years in the offshore wind supply chain, which is expected to leverage additional private investment of £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growing the sector. This investment will support thousands of new jobs and maximise economic value to Scotland.

Through the Supply Chain Development Statements process, offshore wind developers have made commitments to invest an average of £1.5bn per project across the 20 ScotWind developments in the Scottish supply chain. These commitments are an integral part of the leasing process and are intended to drive developer engagement with the supply chain from the very outset of project development.

The UK Government’s Clean Industry Bonus will provide extra revenue support to offshore wind developers who choose to invest in cleaner supply chains, and in supply chains in the UK’s most deprived areas. We expect both Scottish offshore wind projects and supply chain to benefit from this new initiative.

Through the Onshore Wind Sector Deal we are continuing to see positive engagement with industry on publishing data on the percentage of local content in the supply chain, which will help to illustrate the economic impact developments for communities and Scotland’s regional and national economies.

It is for individual local authorities, as employers, to manage their own practices regarding the employment of teachers and provision of individual employment contracts.

In December 2024 the Scottish Government reached an agreement with local government to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels and we are providing £186.5 million in the 2025-26 Financial Year for this purpose and to give local authorities the support they have requested to increase the number of teaching jobs. In addition we are also providing Local Authorities with £28 million to support ASN provision in schools, which may be used for measures such as the employment of ASN teachers.

As part of our joint agreement Scottish Government and CoSLA will also work together on the establishment of an Education Assurance Board. Improving employment opportunities for Scotland’s teaching workforce will be a key feature of the Education Assurance Board. The board will allow us to work together to review national employment practices, highlight best practice and use this to work in partnership with our councils to improve the availability of permanent teaching contracts nationally.

Each school should have a relationships and behaviour policy setting out clear expectations of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and the responses which staff can utilise. Staff should respond to behaviour in line with this policy. The existing Scottish Government policy framework, including the national policy on exclusion, allows the use of consequences.

This government is committed to doing what it can to provide support and direction at a national level, informed by our national evidence base. Ultimately, it is the responsibility local authorities to decide how to promote positive relationships and behaviour in their schools. We expect local authorities to consider how best to implement our national guidance to meet particular needs and experiences at a local level, identifying areas of local challenge or concern.

As part of the relationships and behaviour action plan, we will be providing clarity on the range of approaches and consequences that are available, including exclusion where there is no appropriate alternative. This guidance is being developed by a sub-group of the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools, together with the Head Teacher Taskforce and will be published later this year.

The journey time reductions will be delivered cumulatively via a number of interventions throughout the length of the line. These include passing loops, signalling works and interventions to the track layout at Aberdeen, Montrose, Arbroath and Dundee stations.

Track line speed improvement works at Barnhill in Perthshire have already been completed.

The Case for Investment for Clyde Metro is being led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), supported by Glasgow City Council leading various workstreams alongside SPT, with Transport Scotland providing a project assurance role.

Clyde Metro aims to offer relief for the heavy rail network, freeing rail capacity for longer distance journeys, thus the Clyde Metro project team has been engaging with ScotRail and Network Rail to inform the on-going Case for Investment stage. I understand that the assessment of network options will consider opportunities to improve the integration of rail services in the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency with the wider Clyde Metro network.

The Case for Investment is a key stage of the development process, informing decisions around network selection, phasing and implementation. It is well underway and is currently anticipated to be complete by mid-2027.

Further details on the Case for Investment stage can be obtained by contacting SPT directly at clydemetro@spt.co.uk.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The contract for HMP Glasgow was awarded under a two-stage design and build contract using the “Scottish Building Contracts Committee (SBCC) Design and Build Contract for use in Scotland 2016 Edition” contract form.

Whilst this contract form does not include a formal Conflict Avoidance Process, it is designed to avoid unnecessary contractual disputes arising during contract delivery.

The standard clauses in the SBCC conditions contract already recognise that mediation should be utilised before resorting to Adjudication in the event of a dispute or disagreement arising. SPS has however also included a specific amendment which provides an explicit undertaking by directors or senior representatives of the parties to the contract to resolve any contractual differences within 5 business days of the matter arising before mediation is considered.

Scottish Government officials had a number of informal discussions with NatureScot in advance of NatureScot introducing guidance and adding a new condition to 16AA licences. NatureScot has the authority to add conditions to grouse shooting licences without requiring approval from Scottish Government Ministers.

The UK Government has stated its commitment to providing an update as soon as possible, and my officials continue to engage regularly with their UK Government counterparts regarding their plans. Additionally, I recently wrote to the UK Government to request a meeting to gain further insight into the options they are considering in relation to the report.

The Scottish Government remains dedicated to keeping the Scottish Parliament informed of any significant developments.

We also reaffirm our previous apology to all those who have been directly affected by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate, as well as to their caregivers.

The Scottish Government made a written statement to Parliament on 19 November 2024 on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements, following an earlier report and consultation. As stated in those documents, the Scottish Government does not see any strong argument for a change in the balance of parliamentary, administrative and judicial roles in decision making on environmental matters, or for the creation of a specialist court. Therefore, there are no plans to conduct any additional analysis of any potential efficiency savings in the judicial system from the creation of an environment court.

This is a matter of law, therefore the Scottish Government do not hold a position on these issues. Lease agreements will vary depending on the circumstances and individuals should take their own legal advice.